Below is an annotated list of children's literature for the elementary classroom. The books are organized by the Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design (Picower, 2007). It is based on work by pre-service teachers at Montclair State University. They have read and reviewed these books and provided insights into how they can be used in K-5 settings.

Monday, September 29, 2014

How My Family Lives in America

How My Family Live in
America by Susan Kuklin is about celebrating different cultures. Susan
Kuklin tells about three children who have parents that grew up in countries
other than American and still practice many customs from their homeland. These
children, who live in New York City, share their stories about how they
integrate their customs into their family life on a regular basis. The children
in this story include Sanu, whose dad is from Senegal; Eric, whose dad is from
Puerto Rico; and April, whose parents are from Taiwan. Each of these accounts tells how ethnic
traditions have been adapted into American families.

Element Two - Respect for Others:

In element two, students share about their own cultural
background. To do this, you must create a safe environment that allows for
respect and allows for students to share about their cultural identity. How My Family Lives in America helps to create
this climate of respect. Hearing accounts from other students’ cultural
backgrounds in the story will show that cultural traditions are important and
can be fun to share with classmates. This book provides a great foundation for
students to then share about their own cultural traditions.

Classroom Activity:

I would start by reviewing key phrases like culture, ethnic,
and traditions. I would then read How My
Family Lives in America aloud to my class. I would ask my class, “Does
anyone have any cultural traditions that you do within your family?” After the
class discusses this and after I share some of my families cultural traditions,
I would have them do an activity. Each student may draw a picture of a cultural
tradition that they practice with their family. They can also draw any new
tradition or activity that they do with relatives or friends. This exercise
would allow the students to share about their own ethnic traditions in their
family and have them learn about new traditions from their peers.